You may be as sick of reading about blacks and the Republican Party as I am of writing about the GOP’s Big Lie about the party’s -- and President Bush’s -- appeal among blacks who are not on the GOP’s payroll. Hell, according to the latest Newsweek poll, Bush appeals to few Americans period:
Meanwhile, Bush’s approval ratings have dropped to 42 percent; 51 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job as president. Bush’s approval ratings reached a high of 88 percent in his first term, in the month after the September 11 attacks. Forty-two percent is his low.
I will stay on the GOP’s hide lest the disinformation becomes conventional wisdom as Ken Mehlman repeats ad nauseum: “Give us a chance and we’ll give you a choice.” Well, here’s some of what black folks would get if they gave the GOP more than baseline support:
- If given a chance, Republicans would choose your leaders (and here).
If given a chance, Republicans would choose your issues (and here).
If given a chance, Bush’s ownership society means that if you have no private pension, you’re on your own.
The choice is yours as to whether you want to hook up with a party that is so "discerning”:
The challenges ahead for the GOP are plain to see by looking at the nearly all-white crowd of party activists. Just five blacks were visible among the 300 people dining in the ornate board room atop a Pittsburgh hotel where Santorum talked about appealing to African American voters, and three were waiting on tables as part of the hotel's kitchen staff.
Not one of the 231 Republicans in the House or 55 members in the Senate is black. And while leaders touted an impressive-sounding 70 percent increase in black GOP votes, the figures reflect Bush receiving only 1 in 9 votes in 2004, up from about 1 in 14 in 2000.
